Grayson Altenberg’s bathroom begins at the foot of his bed: a round shower cubicle, a small washbasin, a mirror. The kitchen is right next to his bed: two hotplates, two cups on a hanging shelf. He can open the small refrigerator out of bed. There is no window. Daylight only enters the room through a shaft in the ceiling. A closet is also missing. His shirts are carefully folded on narrow shelves that Altenberg has placed under the ceiling. The toilet has no door. Because there is simply no room for it.
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Grayson Altenberg lives on nine square meters. And thus in one of the smallest fully equipped apartments on the Upper West Side – one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Manhattan, west of Central Park. Where the monthly rents for a studio start at around $ 3,000 and stars like Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Michael J. Fox, Bono or Sting are at home.
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A realtor helped the 22-year-old find the $ 1,100 apartment. Because Altenberg came to New York City from his native Wisconsin in August with nothing but a large backpack to “make it in the big city and not get stuck in the Midwest,” as he says. A Michelin-starred restaurant in Lincoln Center had offered him a job as an apprentice chef. The only wish: an apartment close to the workplace. He had expected little space.
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The gym as a second home
“It sounds like a New York cliché,” he says, “but to make it here, you just have to take what comes.” He had actually assumed that he would have to share little room with many roommates. “That I now even have my own apartment on the Upper West Side – for the same money I would have paid for a room in a shared apartment in Harlem – is a dream.”
Grayson Altenberg is happy with what he has. The glass is always half full for him, he says. After all, he could have breakfast in bed every day. He doesn’t have a table, and there’s no room for a chair in the small room either.
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Sleeping, having breakfast, sharpening his Japanese knives, fitness studio, work: in order to get by in the small apartment, the budding chef has got used to a daily routine. “I do the same thing every day,” says Altenberg and laughs. If he uses something from the shelf, he puts it back immediately. If it boils, it rinses off immediately afterwards. “I can’t leave a mess. I have no place for that.”
The young American, who has German ancestors, wants to stay in New York for another two years. Then he is drawn to Europe. He is ambitious. One of the best restaurants in the world, Noma, is in Copenhagen. He would like to continue studying in Denmark.
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But initially he lives on nine square meters on the Upper West Side. He makes warm bruschetta for lunch on his two hotplates, and often prefers to go to the gym for a shower, because there is everything there, he says. “Internet and television too,” he adds. “For me the gym is like my second home.”
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